Posts Tagged ‘1977’

This article is written by Raja, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a contributor to this blog. This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in sites like lyricstrans.com and ibollywoodsongs.com etc then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.

Today is the 31st of July.

For lovers of Hindi music, especially that of yesteryear, this date has a special significance and immediate recall.

This is the date, 35 years ago, that Mohammad Rafi (who I always refer to as Rafisaab), left us.

It is a date that still fills many of us with a sense of sorrow. Sure, everybody has to go some time but the universal feeling is that Rafisaab left us too soon. He was not even 56 when he passed away. And it’s not as if he was ailing for a long time. His death was about as unexpected as they come.

Anyway, nobody has control over these matters. Whenever I think about it, I end up only being grateful for the time that he DID have here, and for what he did with that time.

You can live a 100 years and not make the slightest difference to anybody’s life. Or you can live 56 (or even less, like many others have) and make an impact. I am reminded of a Rafisaab song from my childhood sau baras ki zindagi se achhe hain, pyar ke do chaar din.

And what an impact!

The value of the legacy of songs that Rafisaab has left behind for generations to listen to and enjoy, is immeasurable.

As is the love in the millions of hearts that he won. His voice apart, Rafisaab was supposed to be an exceptional human being. Stories of his kindness abound – that only adds to the love people have for him, and endears him to generations that didn’t know him personally.

As for me, ever since Rafisaab won me over, many summers ago when I was still a young boy surrounded by Kishoreda magic, with his o duniya ke rakhwaale playing on radio, I have never looked back.

Regulars here know what Rafisaab means to me. I’ve written often about him here, especially on his birth/death anniversary.

While starting on this post, I wasn’t sure what specifically I should write about today. Having already written a lot about Rafisaab in the past, I don’t want to repeat myself. Besides, I don’t want to discuss aspects of his life or songs that are anyway discussed by everybody all the time.

In this connection, another thing sometimes bothers me. I grew up in the 70s – and, to be honest, most of Rafisaab’s career and fame happened before that. So most of it is secondhand for me, whereas there are Atulites here who have experienced it firsthand. They are far more competent to talk about his career than I am. At the most, I can add my two cents for the 70s.

And that is what I want to touch upon today.

It is well-known that Kishore Kumar swept the industry in 1969 with songs of Aradhana. From then on, his domination for the next decade and more, was so overpowering that songs of other male singers stand out more by exception than by rule.

All singers might have felt the impact of Kishore Kumar’s sudden popularity but for the likes of Mukesh and Manna Dey, the impact would have been minimal. They had their own style and niche following – composers used them for specific types of songs. That didn’t change.
The change was felt most by Rafisaab. His No.1 position had been taken away by Kishore Kumar almost overnight.

From what I’ve read, Rafisaab was much affected by this and even began having self-doubt. Imagine, Rafisaab having doubt about his own ability! Apparently, Naushad, who has not just composed some of Rafisaab’s most memorable songs, but was also a very good friend and confidant, talked to Rafisaab and assured him that he had nothing to fear about his ability.

In the first half of the 70s, Kishore’s domination meant that Rafisaab was heard more as exception than otherwise. He had his “aaj mausam bada beimaan hai” from “Loafer”, “badi door se aaye hain” from “Samjhauta”, his “humko to jaan se pyari hai tumhari aankhen” from “Naina”, his “mera mann tera pyaasa” from Gambler. He delivered hits for Yaadon Ki Baaraat, his teri bindiya re for Abhimaan is memorable even today, his teri galiyon mein na rakhenge kadam won him an award. Yet, these were few and far between.

It was in the second half of the decade that Rafisaab came right back into reckoning. Many claim that it was Amar Akbar Anthony (1977) that got him back – and it might well be so – but I personally think it was Laila Majnu (1976) which should be credited with his comeback. The film might not have had quite a blockbuster hit like parda hai parda but songs like is reshmi paazeb and tere dar pe aaya hoon were popular too.

Anyway, it doesn’t matter. What matters is that Rafisaab was back!

Parda hai parda became a superhit. His other songs in Amar Akbar Anthony were also successful and things began looking up again. Hum Kisise Kam Nahin, starring Rishi Kapoor, was released a few months later – and its songs too became a rage. Rafisaab shone once again – his chand mera dil, his ye ladka hai allah duet with Asha Bhosle, his hai agar dushman qawwali were all hits. But the biggest hit of the film was easily his kya hua tera waada, which won him not just a Filmfare award but also his only National Film Award.

Suddenly, there was a buzz about him – and from 1977 till his death, I think he did just fine. He had hits in Abdullah, Sargam, Karz, Apnapan, Suhaag, The Burning Train, Qurbani and Aap To Aise Na The, among others.

I remember being very happy for him – I used to look forward to his songs. For example, though Om Shanti Om of Karz was extremely popular, I always preferred dard-e-dil. The variations in the song fascinated me.

Obviously, the voice of Rafisaab in the late 70s wasn’t quite like his voice of the 50s and 60s. It was only natural that with age, his voice would also undergo change.

Or so I thought.

And that brings me to the song of today.

It is from a little-known film called Haiwaan (1977). Little-known for me, at least, because I’d never heard of it till I came across it by accident a few days ago while looking for Deb Mukherjee films.

Most interestingly though, I stumbled upon this Rafisaab song in the film. When I listened to it, I was delighted. Not surprising, because Rafisaab songs usually delight me anyway. :-) Then what was different here?

What surprised me most was his voice in this particular song. It had all the characteristics of a typical 1960s Rafisaab catchy number. In fact, I closed my eyes to listen to it – and I felt as if it was a Joy Mukherjee 1960s song. Or even a Johnny Walker 1950s song! Unless this song was recorded much earlier and released only in 1977 for this film, it is quite astonishing.

But then, Rafisaab never failed to surprise me – and I was just so thrilled to come across this song that I decided I would post it here on his death anniversary.

The song is picturised on actors I cannot recognize – maybe somebody can help? The ones I think I can recognize are Prema Narayan, Deb Mukherjee and Ramesh Deo.

The music is by Bappi Lahiri. Till much of his music came for criticism in the 80s, Bappi Lahiri’s music was quite fun to listen to, if a bit loud at times.

Please listen to this now, with eyes closed. And tell me if it doesn’t feel like vintage Rafisaab of the 60s. :-)

As I sign off, I just want to say: Rafisaab, we will NEVER forget you. You will ALWAYS remain in our hearts. Thank you for all that you have given us. Words cannot express our gratitude to you.

This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in sites like lyricstrans.com and ibollywoodsongs.com etc then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.

Today (18 july 2015) is the third death anniversary of Rajesh Khanna ( 29 december 1942- 18 july 2012). People who only read about his superstardom in article and who did not live through that era will not be able to understand what that meant. The entire India was head over heels in love with Rajesh Khanna from late 1960s to early 1970s. Like all good things, it was too good to last forever, though. Rajesh Khanna was not able to handle his superstardom and he began to alienate those who had helped him reach the top. The same people who helped him reach the top began to desert him in favour of the next superstar in the making, viz Amitabh Bachchan, who was better equipped to handle his superstardom.Read more on this topic…

This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in sites like lyricstrans.com and ibollywoodsongs.com etc then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.

R D Burman composed over 1700 songs in Hindi movies. Only 19 of these songs had the voice of Mukesh in them.

When I came across this figure yesterday (it is mentioned in the book -R D Burman- the man the music), I looked in the blog and also searched the list of R D Burman songs in HFGK.Read more on this topic…

This article is written by Sudhir, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a contributor to this blog. This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in sites like lyricstrans.com and ibollywoodsongs.com etc then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.

This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in sites like lyricstrans.com and ibollywoodsongs.com etc then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.

This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in sites like lyricstrans.com and ibollywoodsongs.com etc then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.

“Darling Darling”(1977), which was released in 1977, is a recent movie by the standards of this movie, but it sank without a trace. The movie is by now regarded as an obscure movie.Read more on this topic…

This article is written by Avinash Scrapwala, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a contributor to this blog. This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in sites like lyricstrans.com and ibollywoodsongs.com etc then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.

‘Chhaila Babu – 1977’ was Produced by Shomu Mukherjee and Directed by Joy Mukherjee. It had Rajesh Khanna in title role of ‘Chhaila Babu’, and accompanied by Zeenat Amaan, Asrani, Ranjeet, Padma Khanna, Achala Sachdev, Macmohan, P.Jairaj, Ravindra Kapoor and Om Shivpuri.Read more on this topic…

This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in sites like lyricstrans.com and ibollywoodsongs.com etc then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.

This article is written by Avinash Scrapwala, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a contributor to this blog. This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in sites like lyricstrans.com and ibollywoodsongs.com etc then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.

# Desh ki mitti ki khushboo # 1
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# Best wishes on ‘Uttaraayana to all #

During ‘Doordarshan’ days, till ‘cable TV’ had not invaded our households, I used to watch all the movies that would be on Doordarshan on Sundays or on special occasions. (I also liked to watch the ‘award winning’ regional language films. Few names of such movies that immediately come to my mind are Mahanadi (Oriya, Kamal Hassan), Shwet Pathorer Thaala (Bangla), and ‘Kalaripayattu’ (Malayalam), ‘Kummati’etc etc.Read more on this topic…

This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in sites like lyricstrans.com and ibollywoodsongs.com etc then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.

Today (6 january) is the birthday of Rameshwari. Rameshwari who ? Many people among younger generation may look askance on the mention of her name. But there was a time during 1977-78 when she was one of the hottest property in Hindi movies when she made her debut in Rajshree Production’s endearing movie “Dulhan wahi Jo Piya Man Bhaaye” (1977). This movie turned her into an overnight sensation. People (especially women) would throng to watch this movie. When this movie was released in my town, I did not take any notice of it because the title of the movie did not appeal to me and in any case I was more into watching Amitabh Bachchan movies those days. But when I noticed that this movie was having a longer run in the town that what even “Sholay” (1975) managed, then I was intrigued and I bunked my college to watch this movie. And I was bowled over ! I then watched this movie four more times, and it was only for Rameshwari.Read more on this topic…